Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Shares Down 0.1% – Time to Sell?

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) shares traded down 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $57.77 and last traded at $57.92. 1,505,243 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 8,564,415 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MO. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Altria Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.29.

Altria Group Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $54.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.14 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.01. Altria Group had a net margin of 46.90% and a negative return on equity of 258.72%. On average, analysts expect that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 25th will be given a dividend of $1.02 per share. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 25th. Altria Group’s payout ratio is 62.29%.

Institutional Trading of Altria Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MO. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in Altria Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 420.0% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 572 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Altria Group in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.41% of the company’s stock.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.